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The Robo-Bug-Aliens Are Coming, Time to Get Out The Laser Beams

Currently seeking funds on Kickstarter is Tetrapulse, a PC co-op shooter taking place on a planet where the scary robot aliens are many and the resources are few. Which is probably why the heroes are forced to use their own health as ammo. Tetrapulse uses procedural generation for its levels, where the goal is to…

Part 3 of the World’s Best Half-Life 2 Movie Is In The Works, But…

There’s a catch. There’s always a catch. Released in 2009 and getting a second part two years later, Escape from City 17 was an excellent Half-Life 2 fan film notable for its nearly blockbuster-level CG effects. Ironically, it is the CG effects themselves that are keeping Part 3 from being released. But have no fear—there’s…

One hour of Starbound for everyone. Over the weekend, at the UK’s Multiplay Insomnia Gaming Festival, developers Chucklefish held a “world premiere” one-hour demonstration of their upcoming side-scrolling sandbox Starbound in the form of a Let’s Play starring Duncan, Sips and Sjin of the Yogscast. Take a look above.

NBC Accused Of Using Cosplay Photos Without Photographer’s Consent

SyFy’s TV series Heroes of Cosplay has been accused by cosplay photographers of “using images for promotion…on the weekly episodes without written permission from the authors and copyright owners of the images”. Writing on his studio’s blog, BGZ Photography’s Darrell Ardita says that “numerous” photographers, including one of his business associates, have seen their images…

An MMO That Promises The World. Let’s See If It Actually Delivers.

Black Desert is an upcoming MMO from Korean developers Pearl Abyss. It sounds almost too good to be true. A preview of the game on MMOCast says it’s a “sandbox MMORPG”. Specifically, it’s promising stuff like resource-gathering, action combat, open-world player vs player battles, castle sieges (with plans for 400 v 400 assaults) and non-instanced…

True Horror Is The Craigslist Personal Ads Of The Zombie Apocalypse

Left 4 Dead’s Nick may be up to his eyeballs in the undead, but he’s still got time to peruse the casual encounters section of Craigslist. Being the casual encounters section of Craigslist, this is totally Not Suitable For Work, but if you’re not at work, well. This is late-night machinima, folks. Classifieds [John Doe,…

Building A Space Colony Looks More Fun Than Blowing One Up

I wrote about indie space colony building sim thing Maia last year, but in the months since it’s come along so nicely it’s worth a second look today. This latest clip, from the latest build of the game, lets creator Simon Roth go into great detail about how the whole thing works. Don’t worry. It’s…

A 2013 Cosplay Comeback

I’ve been on vacation for three weeks, which explains the recent lack of a weekly cosplay roundup. But hey, I’m back now, and so is Fancy Pants. It’s a good week to come back, too! Not just for awesome guy cosplay, a rarity in such volume, but it’s also a great week for fans of…

That “Wind Waker For iOS” Game? Still Looking Awesome

Call it a rip-off if you want, enough people have already. But whatever. I think Oceanhorn, for iOS, looks fantastic, and its list of inspirations runs a lot deeper than Link’s first cel-shaded adventure. This new trailer is to commemmorate the game’s impending release. Can’t wait.

Early Final Fantasy XIV Launch Goes (Surprise!) Badly

For a game that’s had so many problems it’s needing a second launch, you’d think Square Enix would be right on top of Final Fantasy XIV, but nope. The game had an early access release over the weekend, and it was a mess. Those who had pre-ordered the game were let into an early access…

Portal on the DS: Aperture Science, the homebrewed version of Portal for the DS shown off back in February, now has a “mostly playable” version. You’ll need a flash cart to play it, but the file can be found here.

They Studied Madden in College, and Now Play It For a Living

Zach Farley didn’t know much about the others in his residence hall when he moved back in at Westfield State University as a sophomore about seven years ago. He did know one suite had a PlayStation 2 and a copy of Madden, the communal fire of a dorm for most of its 25-year existence. Farley…

This Game Sold 144 Copies and Was Pirated 50,000 Times

Gentlemen! is, in the words of its creator “a 2-player head-to-head Victorian dueling game for tablets.” There is no singleplayer mode and its multiplayer is local only. This wouldn’t figure to be an attractive piracy target, but the game’s features don’t seem to matter. In its first three weeks Gentlemen! was downloaded more than 50,000…

Who Are the ‘Whales’ Driving Free-to-Play Gaming? You’d Be Surprised

Few words in the video games industry are as cynical as “whale,” taken from a Las Vegas term for a high stakes gambler. The difference is, a Vegas high roller may actually win something with his money, and at minimum is comped for everything during his stay. In free-to-play games, a whale is nothing but…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Unhappy Family

Another week, another chance for me to thwart sciteach by taking one of his pre-emptive strikes for the ‘Shop Contest splash image and declaring it ineligible from further competition. Y’all demanded Psyduck Kid last Sunday, and you wanted him followed by bickering Sims family. Well, you got it. I don’t know what the hell is…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Psyduck Kid: The Winners

Last week a torches-and-pitchforks mob came to my door to demand Psyduck Kid and so I relented, sacrificing him to a horrible fate in order to preserve peace, or whatever passes for it, in our quiet community here. Of course, there will only be more victims, but today, we should celebrate the winners, beginning with…

Sony Acknowledges Grand Theft Auto V Leak, Says It’s Sorry

Sony has acknowledged—and apologized for—a leak of Grand Theft Auto V files yesterday that revealed the game’s main theme and its soundtrack, among other details., potentially. “We sincerely apologize to Rockstar and GTA fans across the world who were exposed to the spoiler content,” Sony said on the official PlayStation blog. Yesterday, a digital file…

Well, that didn’t take long. Remember that $90,000 Kickstarter to make a Metroid fan film—one that didn’t have Nintendo’s permission? Yeah, it ended about like you’d expect. They’d gotten about $20,000, with two weeks left in the fund drive.

Here’s One Super-Realistic Feature in Madden NFL 25

Madden NFL has a “fantasy draft” option—which disperses all of the players and has every team draft a new roster before beginning your career mode. If you pick that, here’s how the game’s fake Twitter stream reacts. Good to see that ESPN’s tinhorn orchestra, Skip Bayless, stays true to character in it.

PlayStation Exec Explains Why They Keep Taking Shots at Xbox One

Andrew House, the Sony top executive who took another swipe at Microsoft and the Xbox One from the stage at Gamescom, has explained why Sony has made such arch references to the competition at its showcase events. Basically, Microsoft made them do it. “We constructed our E3 presentation because there was somehow a suspicion that…